Machina Viva - Nathaniel Hicklin

Machina Viva

by Nathaniel Hicklin

In a distant world where work is done by machines with the faces of humans, one man has changed what it means to be a robot. But before the new robot can make her mark on the future, she must first survive the present.

Thus was born the city of Tetropolis, one of the oldest mid-atmosphere arcologies. The word is a combination of “architecture” and “ecology,” and such constructions are rarely accidents. Tetropolis fits the requirements of a city, with a central government, police force, utilities, and even a nice park. It also fits the requirements of a building, being a unified structure with a single framework. In this case, the single framework was a series of large interlocking tubes that formed a pyramid nearly a mile high. The taller buildings in the city connected directly to the outer pyramid, strengthening the whole structure while ensuring their own stability. Public transit vehicles traveled through the tubes, intersecting at large spherical nodes and creating a very stressful job for any human who was crazy enough to work in traffic control. The job usually went to a robot, because unlike the vast majority of people, a lot of robots actually enjoy that kind of insanity.

BIOGRAPHY

Nathaniel Hicklin studied engineering in college, but graduated with a degree in theater arts. He has parlayed this background into a portfolio of science fiction and urban fantasy storytelling. His first novel, Seekers of Truth, tells the story of eight people who form a team to combat corruption and evil in a multifaceted world of magic and secrecy. His second book, a novella called Machina Viva, describes a distant world in the empty depths of space where humans and robots walk side by side that explores what it means to be human.

WEBSITE

Author page: http://OfficeOfTheCurator.blogspot.com

PURCHASE
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Ebooks for Pleasure, and wherever books are sold.


PUBLISHER
4 Square Books

OTHER WORKS

•  Seekers of Truth

Leslie Peterson - Redshift Blueshift

REDSHIFT BLUESHIFT: The Pendulum of Time

by Leslie Peterson

The first aliens to arrive on planet Earth were the Dorts. They were amoebalike and frighteningly large, but they did favor us with the Theory of Transformation—a brilliant advance over prior attempts by theoretical and particle physicists to create the ultimate, Unified Theory of Everything; but like all great theories, even theirs had limitations.

Centuries after the first Dorts arrived, Laura Shane was born. She reinterpreted the Dort Theory by giving it the “finishing touch” of her genius. It led to the faster than light removal of miles-deep, cone-shaped plugs from planet Earth. The latest and largest such Cone carried a crew of thousands. It was named the Great Cone of Transformation.

Through his 3T Corporation, Ned Keller directed the creation of Cones. Despite Laura’s unease about her first voyage into space, she and Ned went together on the Great Cone’s maiden mission.

Two weeks later they were light years from home when Ned’s “boss,” Jack Lewis, arrived to inform them of an event on Earth with implications for their mission. Unfortunately his concern did not include awareness of what those implications might be; but they were already in peril. It was sabotage—the first in a series of calamities.

Before the final calamity began to close in on them (the “Big Rip,” set to destroy the entire local multiverse) and before Jack’s recent arrival, it was still teatime on the Great Cone. Laura and Ned were having a pleasant morning beside her pool. The story begins there, with our attractive young genius sipping tea and deep in thought about her bewildering circumstances and the unchanged perception of all the things around her. Ned was reading comfortably in a nearby lounge chair. Now and then he’d look up to speak of love, while shamelessly admiring her long and lovely legs.

BIOGRAPHY
Leslie Peterson lives in Plymouth Minnesota. He received his undergraduate degree from the U of Minnesota and began a varied social work career in NYC after his MSW degree from the U of Utah. That was followed by several years working in therapeutic community settings within the Utah State Hospital. He later taught for six years (Associate Professor at Mankato State U, in MN), and then four years as program director for a large state hospital. There were many other professional activities during his thirty-seven years in that field. He likes to travel, write, read popular works on cosmology and particle physics, enjoys most forms of adventure and science fiction, and delights in visits with his daughters and grandchildren. REDSHIFT BLUESHIFT: The Pendulum of Time is his first novel.

PURCHASE
Trafford Publishing